FARMINGTON – University of Maine at Farmington has partnered with the W. G. Mallett School and the Sandy River Recycling Association to help implement a composting project at the elementary school.
This joint effort is a natural outgrowth of the highly successful composting program at UMF and was created to instruct and inspire sustainable waste recycling practices at the earliest learning levels and to provide UMF students with real world opportunities for learning and leadership.
Initiated by the Mallett School Recycling Committee, which includes UMF faculty and students, Mallett School administrators and educators and area professionals, the project has helped to develop worm bin composting in Alex Ernst’s third grade classroom and to prepare Mallett school students to sort their lunch refuse for composting by the Sandy River facility.
“Seeing the organic recycling process first hand can spark a young student’s life-long interest in science and finding new, more sustainable ways to live,” said Andrea Freed, UMF assistant professor of science education and recycling committee member.
Robert Ripley and April Noel, UMF students in Freed’s education methods class, helped Mallett School third graders build worm bins and taught a class lesson on worm bin composting. Caroline Gallant, Shawn Menard and Sarah O Blenes, UMF student members of the Sustainable Campus Coalition, helped instruct kindergarten and first grade students in how to sort their lunchtime cafeteria waste in preparation for composting.
Gallant, a senior majoring in environmental science from Concord, N.H., said the experience reinforced her feelings about the importance of acquiring good recycling habits at a young age.
“This has been a great experience and a valuable opportunity to see effective sustainable practices in action,” Gallant said. “Of course there was a meatball and mashed potato day that was pretty messy, but as the project has progressed, you can see that even the youngest children are amazed at how much food is being composted and reused rather than going to waste.”
Additionally, Gallant has added to the impact of the program by locating an online service that will pay the school 2 cents for every foil drink pouch they recycle.
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The collected food waste is gathered daily during the school week, according to Ron Slater, manager of the Sandy River Recycling Association. The recycling agency picked up 288 pounds of food waste from the school in November and that increased to over 560 pounds in December.
The composting project is part of a continuing sustainable practices program at Mallett School, which has been recycling its waste paper for several years. In the future, the joint recycling committee is looking to find ways to minimize the school’s waste and help students learn about nutrition and the benefit of eating local foods. They also have plans to cultivate a spring garden at the school.
